How to Make Liquid Fertilizer for Vegetables

Liquid fertilizer helps make your garden more bountiful.

Fertilizing your vegetable garden helps it produce healthier, larger and more bountiful vegetables. Liquid fertilizers, when mixed with water, are applied directly to the leaves and soil surrounding vegetable plants, providing them with added nourishment. These fertilizers are available for purchase, but may come with a hefty price tag. Making your own liquid fertilizer is simple and inexpensive. Another benefit of making your own liquid fertilizer is that it allows you to make your fertilizer as organic (natural and chemical-free) as you like.

Things You'll Need

• Green plant matter
• Bucket with lid, 5-gallon
• 12 to 24 eggshells
• Water
• Baking sheet
• Blender
• Stick or spoon for stirring

Instructions

1. Buy or harvest enough plant matter to fill a 5-gallon bucket halfway. Examples of plant matter to use include alfalfa, clover and comfrey. Old vegetable plants (the foliage and stems) are also acceptable, as long as they're not rotten.

2. Rinse one to two dozen empty eggshells. Place them onto a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes. Grind the baked eggshells into a powder using a blender, then empty the powder into the bucket. This adds calcium and phosphorus to your fertilizer.

3. Fill the bucket up the rest of the way with water. Place a lid onto the bucket and place the bucket in a cool, dark space.

4. Stir the mixture in the bucket two to three times each week. Repeat this procedure for three weeks. Ensure you replace the lid on the bucket after each stirring session.

5. Add 1 part of the liquid fertilizer mixture to 10 parts water once the brewing period is over. Pour the diluted fertilizer mixture over your vegetable plants in place of watering one to two times each week.

Tips & Warnings

• Manure, weeds and grass clippings also make good ingredients for liquid fertilizer. Choose plants free of chemicals and pesticides to make the healthiest fertilizer possible.

• Do not over-fertilize your plants. Once or twice weekly is enough to promote healthy growth without causing damage.

References

• Vegetable Gardening Gnomes: Homemade Liquid Organic Fertilizer
• "Organic Crops in Pots"; Deborah Schneebelli-Morrell; 2009